Lady Spartans collect tough win over Lady Elks

The Lady Elks, fresh off their first District 5-5A win, put a fight Tuesday night against arch-rival Centennial.

Burleson was able to close to within two points late but couldn’t clear that final hurdle as the Lady Spartans picked up a 55-47 road win.

“I am proud of the effort we showed tonight,” Burleson coach Curtis Enis said. “We could have easily folded up when we were down 11 points. But our kids hunkered down. They fought back and gave themselves a chance.”

The Lady Elks cut Centennial’s lead to 49-47 with less than 40 seconds to play on a steal and lay-up by Rylee Moseley.

With 27.4 seconds to play, Centennial’s Trystan Clark went to the free-throw line and made the first of two shots to give the Lady Spartans a 50-47 lead Clark’s second attempt was no good but teammate Kertisa Amos beat three Lady Elks to the rebound.

Amos' play sparked a 6-0 Centennial (15-11, 4-2) run that finished off all hope for the Lady Elks.

“That was a back-breaker,” Enis said. “I was disappointed we couldn’t get the rebound there.”

Earlier in the fourth quarter, Centennial’s Toni Howard delivered a tough blow when she stole an inbounds pass and raced in for an easy basket that gave the Lady Spartans a 43-34 lead with 4:19 to play.

The Lady Elks registered their first district victory Friday with a 52-41 win Friday at Arlington Seguin. Trinitee Johnson scored 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Burleson.

“Trinitee did a good job of finishing on the back of the break and rebounding the ball,” Enis said. “We executed our press break well tonight. I thought our guards did a good job of passing the ball to the open person and hitting the occasional three-pointer.”

Ne’Khyria Rogers and Jolie Johnson each scored 10 points Friday in a 69-38 district loss at Mansfield Timberview, the topped-ranked team in Class 5A according to the most recent Texas Association of Basketball coached poll.